PLMR, Social Care Institute for Excellence, and the Homecare Association brought together leading voices from across the sector at this year’s Labour Party Conference.
This year’s Labour Party Conference saw a host of MPs and social care leaders come together for a heartening discussion about the role of social care in delivering the 10-year health plan.
The fringe event was jointly hosted by PLMR, the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE), and the Homecare Association in PLMR’s Policy Hub inside the conference secure zone.
The panel included:
· Sojan Joseph, MP for Ashford, and co-chair of the Adult Social Care APPG
· Ben Coleman, MP for Chelsea and Fulham, and former Hammersmith & Fulham Council Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care
· Jess McGregor, President of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), and current Executive Director of Adults and Health at London Borough of Camden
· George Appleton, Head of External Affairs at SCIE
· and Daisy Cooney, Head of Policy, Practice and Innovation at the Homecare Association.
Together, the sector experts explored themes in the Government’s health plan, including shifting healthcare from hospital to community; integration at local and national level; and how to unlock ‘early wins’ for the social care sector.
Almost 100 conference attendees joined to hear the panellists’ suggestions and insights, which focused on solutions and ideas not just barriers.
Talking about the opportunities available for social care, George Appleton from SCIE said “social care can help shift the measure of success of the ten-year health plan towards achieving outcomes for people and away from activity levels. Social care, done well, transforms lives, enabling people to live with greater independence, dignity, and purpose, while also reducing pressure on the NHS.”
Ben Coleman MP for Chelsea and Fulham described the panel’s consensus that “the new neighbourhood approach could present a real opportunity if it was produced in the right way, and part of that means Local Authorities recognising the power that they have and demanding a seat at the table to make sure that they’re fully involved in shaping the new systems alongside the likes of NHS Trusts and primary care.
Jess McGregor, President of the Association of Directors of ADASS, also commented on the neighbourhood approach, saying “Both the NHS and social care face financial challenges – but we’ve got to find different ways of working together, particularly by putting residents and communities at the centre of the work as we design neighbourhoods, in order to build something different that works for local people.”
Sojan Joseph MP for Ashford and co-chair of the Adult Social Care APPG emphasised that the new model described in the ten-year health plan is “a great opportunity to work together with GPs, hospitals, schools, pharmacies, community services… that is what we need to see, because social care has a role to play in all sectors not just when somebody is ready to leave hospital. That can be brought about by the Government’s National Care Service, which will take time but is something we can work towards with the publication of the report by Baroness Casey later this year which I hope will identify more solutions.”
Chair of the panel, Daisy Cooney from Homecare Association, summed up the discussion, saying:
“The 10-Year Health Plan barely mentions social care, yet our services sit at the heart of community support. Providers and councils deal daily with more complex needs, but government excludes us from shaping plans, keeps funding locked in hospitals, and assumes staff exist while recruitment and retention worsen. Integration still reads as rhetoric, not reality. The Minister for Care rightly said at the Conference that the government’s three shifts cannot happen without social care, and we stand ready to play our full role when government listens, recognises and values us as equal partners.”
Reflecting on the event, Lucy Taylor Diaz, Associate Director and Deputy Head of Health and Social Care at PLMR said:
“It was fantastic to bring a diverse panel of expert voices in social care into PLMR’s Policy Hub at Labour Party Conference. Too often, care is left on the margins of health debates, but this panel showed just how central the sector is to the success of the 10-year health plan. Creating space for MPs and sector leaders to discuss solutions side by side was invaluable, and part of PLMR’s commitment to help ensure that social care is heard at the heart of political decision-making.”
As part of PLMR’s wider support for the sector, the communications agency also hosted a number of other healthcare events in their Policy Hub, including the Royal Society for Blind Children for a drop-in breakfast and VR experience exploring how policy can improve access, inclusion and long-term outcomes.
PLMR is a full-service communications agency that has specialised in supporting organisations in the social care sector for over 19 years. The agency provides PR, reputation management, local and national government engagement, corporate communications, the full suite of digital marketing and online promotion (websites, videos, social media) services.
